


Swords, Magic and Monsters

by Butts_it_is



Series: Swords, Magic and Monsters Series [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, I'll be updating the rating as I go, Magic, Swords, frosen steel, medieval setting, probably update the tags too as it goes, slowburn, there will be fightscenes and all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:53:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29661342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butts_it_is/pseuds/Butts_it_is
Summary: Here it is. The first chapter of the awfully long journey I have planned out. I made a few changes compared to the testrun chapter, but the plot picks up somewhat after the events of the Swords, Magic and Monsters ch 0.Have fun reading.
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: Swords, Magic and Monsters Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2194068
Comments: 16
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Swords, Magic and Monsters  
**

Chapter 1

Pleasant warmth enveloped her in the sweet scent likely to the breeze sweeping through a blooming forest. As Ruby was slowly gaining consciousness, she registered someone being pushed flushed up to her. It wasn’t unusual for her to cuddle up with someone during sleep times, but with a pang of guilt she couldn’t place who this person was.

Her arms were wrapped around a delicate frame, when she cracked one eye open, she had to discover there was a shortish, wild red mane right in her face.

‘That explains the scent.’ Ruby thought to herself as she started to wiggle her arm from under the other and move around ever so slightly. She hoped to rouse her bedmate from her sleep as gently as she could or maybe not at all.

She vaguely remembered walking around all day, feeling awfully tired, but other than that? Nothing much… She had some flashes of barely kicking off her boots and shedding her coat before collapsing on the bed.

With all her muscles offering a helpful resistance, she willed herself to prop an arm up and take a good look at her snuggle buddy.

Ruby’s vision was still blurry with sleep, but she could tell that Penny looked fragile and pale. But of course she really had no good memories to compare her to, so she really couldn’t tell.

With her main concern taken care of, Ruby decided to catch some more shut eye. She felt awfully drained and sore all over despite sleeping three times more than she usually does. Ruby turned to the window. It was still pitch black outside. This meant they can catch a few more hours of sleep if they were lucky.

She tried to lover herself gently, while taking great care not to accidentally lay on the poor sleeping girl’s hair and hurt her. As luck would have it, of course, Ruby’s arm decided to go to sleep when she was close to laying down and she landed with a soft thud.

Penny woke with a subtle jolt, after that she didn’t really make any move to change their position.

“Good morning.” Penny croaked weakly. Her movements were sluggish and she really looked like she was just about to shatter from any sudden move.

“Are you okay?” Ruby asked with concern, trying her best to adjust her dead arm without twisting anything she shouldn’t or again, hurting Penny with her clumsiness.

“No.” Penny groaned, sounding pained and agitated. She made a halfhearted effort to rise from the bed. “I’m still half formed, I fear.”

“Would some more rest help?” Ruby offered tentatively.

She tried to pull Penny closer, but she felt so mellow and way too soft. Ruby was afraid she would hurt her if she forced her to move even more. So she decided to scoot closer to her as smoothly as her wounded shoulder and her sleeping left arm let her. “Is it okay this way? You said something about sharing magic and stuff…”

“Yes.” Penny was absolutely smitten with this weird gesture of the other girl. Penny tried to turn to her. “Are you not embarrassed to be so close to a....” she started sadly.

“Hush.” Ruby simply pulled the blanket up to their chins, with Penny’s help. Seems like the two of them were so exhausted, neither of them could do even a simple task fully. They wriggled a little to get in a comfortable position. They laid in a comfortable silence.

“I come from a really far off land. The grim there prowl the countryside often so we share our houses and even beds with friends and family during the night. So we can keep them safe.” Ruby tried to explain “We are not as… what the good word is….” she took a moment to think, but also yawn.

“Formal?” Penny offered helpfully.

“I was about to say unfriendly, but that will do too.” Ruby smiled into the back of Penny’s neck. “See, we are not rich people. We have not much things, but we hold each other dear. Sharing is caring.”

“Your people seem lovely.” Penny chirped, a soft smile occupying her lips. She could feel herself blush when Ruby nuzzled further into her hair. Will you tell me more about your homeland?” she stammered out.

“Of course.” Ruby yawned again. She felt more tired than she did in a long time. “Maybe tomorrow.”

“That sounds sensational.” Penny cheered, but her words fell on deaf ears for the huntress was deep asleep.

***

Morning came way faster than any of the two would have preferred. It didn’t help that morning came in the form of a furious Weiss Schnee. The girl in all white stormed in with little to no consideration for the sleeping duo.

She burst into the room with the loud bang of the heavy door. “What on Remnant are you doing?”

The words got stuck in the heiress as she laid eyes on the tangled pair on the bed. She wrinkled her nose in possible disgust.

“You.” she jabbed a finger in Ruby’s direction “Coming with me.”

“Comin’.” Ruby grumbled as she rolled out of bed clumsily. Apparently, her arm got stuck under Penny and the rolling motion wasn’t so smooth thanks to her injured shoulder and the position of the other arm.

After a good deal of goofing around, the huntress stood in front of her… and she had the audacity to smirk. “I’m here. See?”

Weiss took stock of the huntress. She looked tired, very tired, but decent enough. After all, healing of breaking bones and recuperating from nearly bleeding out drained a person’s energies. Weiss was surprised to even see Ruby on her feet. Truth be told, it also troubled her. True, her knowledge on huntsmen and huntresses was insufficient at best. But to fight and Ursa in a shape like that….

Secretly she was relieved her glyphs and medicine worked well enough to let the dark haired girl somewhat rest during the night. She was due to a bandage change soon, but that is a thought for another time.

“For matter of fact, I am not blind. Now get in the uniform. We have a busy day ahead of us.”

“The armor too?” Ruby whined like a child.

“Yes.” Weiss said as the dark haired girl started to rustle around to get on the discarded clothing items and, with great reluctance, the armor pieces too.

“Help me with it?” Ruby asked sheepishly after a good deal of fumbling around “These clappers are on the top. I can’t raise my arm high enough.” Ruby gestured towards her injured shoulder.

The white and red duo stared at each other in an uneasy silence. Ruby couldn’t decide if Weiss looked mildly upset or outright disgusted.

“I swear to all gods if you tell anyone about this, I’ll…” the rest of the threat got lost under Weiss’ breath as she helped Ruby to get comfortable in the breast plate then fixed the clasps.

“What? Why you so angry?” Ruby asked clueless when the other girl turned on her heel and walked out the door.

The girl in the uniform aimed to jog after the heiress, but was abruptly stopped by a finger pointed at her.

“Don’t you dare embarrass me, understood?” Weiss emphasized her words by jabbing Ruby in the breastplate.

“Yes?” the answer seemed to soothe the heiress. Ruby turned to the bed, where the third girl laid curled up and blankets up to her chin,. “Get well, Penny! I’ll be back soon!”

***

Hours passed by and Ruby had to understand that being back soon wasn’t the case. The two of them spent the whole morning and a good deal of the afternoon with boring meetings and even boringer people. Every noble seemed to ignore their guards, and to her biggest disappointment, people who came in together pretended not to know each other. Even guardsmen ignored each other. How on Remnant could everyone be so rude was beyond Ruby’s understanding.

According to her observations, every single one of the bodyguards did this uncomfortable looming thing too. They stood over their lords and ladies like a cold, hard stone statue. She decided to stand next to the window. At least she could lay her back next to the wall and ease some of her discomfort. Weiss seemed to get annoyed more and more during the day. So one more point to give Weiss her space, she thought to herself. She wasn’t sure if Weiss would like if she breather down her neck the whole day.

First, it made the wealthy look like they were the ones at the mercy of their guards. To be honest, it just made them look ridiculously small. Secondly, weren’t emperor Mustache rich enough to afford chairs to the guardsmen too? Why show off with fancy chairs if you can’t buy enough for everyone?

Another bothering thing was they had to walk from one luscious room to the other. She didn’t complain, but she felt winded and utterly exhausted by the time of brunch. Even herself found it unusual. It was never the case she felt so exhausted and hungry after any of her major injuries.

She awaited feeding time with great yearning, she got awfully excited when Weiss finished her current meeting and made a notion to leave the room. Ruby got so happy, she skipped after the other girl. Only to be lead into another lush room, to another bloating noble. That made her very sad, to say at least.

She decided to stick to her routine. Stand by the window, keep an eye on Weiss, fume a little on behalf of her empty stomach. She was halfheartedly listening to the conversation between Weiss and the other two people, but to be honest, she didn’t really care. It was way past not just brunch, but lunch too. Were a few bites of bread and a morsel of cheese or an apple so much to ask for? Ruby was shaken from her thoughts by the unpleasant screeching of chairs on the pricey marble floor.

Weiss gave a formal, and maybe a bit too cold and calculated smile to her conversation partner and motioned for Ruby to leave. The heiress walked with a practiced grace and Ruby trailed not so far from her. The white half of the duo made no effort to slow down, not even when the other girl seemed to stay behind.

“Hurry up.” she said without looking at Ruby. Weiss’ thoughts were already elsewhere. After such a tiring day, she decided she deserved some time in the gardens. It will be really nice to finally sit around and relax a bit. She’d normally do it with Penny, but given the circumstances, her new bodyguard has to do this time.

“But Weeeiiisss my ass is chafed. I can’t hurry. Damn these pants.” The poor butted girl whined and pawed at the garment in question.

Weiss’ good mood evaporated in an instant. A part of her, despite knowing the childish girl before her was a living, breathing person, suddenly regretted saving Ruby’s life and tending to her wounds a few days back.

“Shut your mouth this instant.” The white haired girl practically growled. She looked outrageous. The heiress whirled around with such fervor, Ruby was afraid she’d get whiplash.

“I’m sorry I have a body with ass problems, Weiss.” For that, the heiress looked even more outrageous and in disbelief. Ruby decided to hammer the iron while it was still hot.

“And you haven’t even feed me. Nice boss you are. How will my body and butt heal if I’m running on empty?” Ruby said and Weiss got redder in the face.

“Not everyone has to know about your…. your ass.” Weiss looked like she felt physical pain saying such words. She crossed her arms around her chest and took a defensive position.

In that moment Weiss seemed like she took the fun poking to heart. So Ruby decided to lighten the mood and skipped up to Weiss to playfully bump into her, despite her own discomfort to move in any way.

The gesture flew over Weiss’ head and she seemed genuinely hurt and it seemed like anger had not much say the tint of her cheeks anymore. She turned on her heels and started to walk twice the speed from before.

“These northern people can’t even take a jab…” Ruby murmured under her nose. She made a mental note to tone down the teasing of the heiress or at least to make sure her liege knew she meant no harm.

“Weiss!” She cried out. “Wait up!”

“By the gods, have you no decency?” The white haired woman stopped and let her face fall into her hands.

“What’s the problem?” Ruby asked, raising her hand to pat the other girl on the back as a show of support. But at first contact the heiress more or less jerked away.

“No, what is your problem?” Weiss asked, outright furious.

“I don’t think I understand…”

Weiss just looked on in disbelief. This girl before her lacked any social decency and she had the audacity to act clueless about it all. She must have done the face again, because Ruby looked at her with great concern.

“Tell me?” Ruby asked in a gentler tone.

“The kitchen is on the far end of the castle.” Weiss said, not answering the question on purpose. She started to walk in a brisk pace. “I’ll be in the gardens. Feel free to take your time getting back.”

After all, she wasn’t a damsel in distress. She could defend herself if necessary. And truth be told, after suffering through countless pointless meetings, getting embarrassed in front of visitors by her own guardswoman, also arguing with said guardswoman in private, she really deserved some peace, quiet and alone time. Or else, her bullshit-o-meter would blast off the charts.

“Yaaaaay!” Ruby cheered behind her “You are the best, Weiss!” She yelled, for what Weiss flinched, and sprinted down the corridor.

Weiss had to admit, this frivolous half-child had her speeds. She rushed past with such energy, she felt a force of a windblast and rose petals? Weiss took a few minutes to process the events of the last few moments. There was no logical explanation how this girl could have rose petals tucked away in her armor. After all, she was on-hand witness of putting on said armor.

She blushed vigorously at the memory. Ripping off blood soaked clothes and tending to a person’s wounds? That’s easy. After all, that is what menders do, even if she is practicing in secret. But to help someone to put on their clothes and armor? Well, by no means is she a handmaid and by no other means are the two of them lovers or related in any way. She is a heiress after all, she should be the one getting dressed, damn it.

Of course she blushed even harder at the thought. She hurried her steps up and turned her thoughts towards every plant in the garden and the fresh, crisp air she so desperately needed.

***

For her credit, Ruby made good on her word. A good hour passed before she returned. Maybe she really took her sweet time, maybe it was Ruby’s lack of knowledge of the castle or maybe it was that Weiss didn’t tell her which gardens she will sit in

By the time the dark haired girl found her, she was calm again. After all, she loved sitting among the plants of the gardens. Despite all, it made her feel less suffocated and more like she is not trapped under his father thumb.

“Want this?” Ruby broke the silence and held a piece of pastry in her outstretched hand. “I don’t know what this is. But the kitchen maid said you love it.”

“Yes, I do.” She took the food. Weiss smiled to herself. This girl really knew nothing else than potato and carrots. “Thank you and it’s a cinnamon bun.”

“Bless you.” Ruby said, took a seat next to her and pulled out a piece of similar pastry from the opening of her shirt. The heiress watched in horror. First: a common person dared to sit right next to her and even rub elbows! Second, did Ruby really pulled out food from her shirt?

Upon closer inspection, she realized Ruby’s shirt was stuffed with goods from the kitchen and she was hugging a rather large linen sack filled with several other items of food in her injured arm. The guardswoman had a wide variety of nourishment. All kinds of baked goods, a few pieces of cooked meat and many different kinds of fruits were now in her possession.

“Did you mean to say, ‘you’re welcome’?” Weiss asked.

“Oh yeah, that’s the word.” Ruby said sheepishly. She moved to gobble down her sweet bun, but she was stopped by Weiss.

“I hope this one didn’t come out of your shirt.” She held the pastry up for inspection.

“No. I brought yours in there.” Ruby laughed her mouth half full, pointing to the sack of goods in her lap. “The kitchen people said you were picky, but I had no idea this much.”

“I’m not picky!” Weiss felt her temper rise again “Who said that?”

“Like I spit them out!” After swallowing the bite she was chewing, Ruby laughed heartily.

Weiss fumed, but let it slip. Ruby hummed an awful lot while eating, but the heiress suspected it was some peasant thing to not being able to eat in silence or keep table manners. She tried to ignore the fact that according to the example right next to her, the people of Solitas ate loud and stored food under their clothes and maybe worst of all, rubbed elbows while eating.

Other than these minor hiccups, she enjoyed her food. They ate in relative silence.

“You know, Weiss, I saw sooooo much food today.” Ruby chirped when she finished with most of her food. Weiss wasn’t sure if it was healthy to eat that much. “The kitchen was full of so many things! It was amazing. You own all the food in the world.”

The heiress listened halfheartedly. She carefully picked a handful of grapes as dessert.

“You can have the rest if you want.” She said, ignoring Ruby’s ramblings about all the amazing food in the pantry. She turned to the girl and gestured for her to have the food she won’t eat and she was greeted with a sight to behold.

The dark haired girl was staring at her with glistening eyes, much like when a dog stares at its favorite person in the world. Truth be told, Weiss was afraid she’d be victim of a tackle hug, but fortunately her guard seemed to get a grip on herself.

“Thank you, Weiss.” She said and gobbled up all the baked and cooked items, leaving only the fruits. Ruby wrapped a smaller portion into the linen sack mumbling something about tomorrow’s breakfast and some food for Penny.

With her provisions prepared for the next day, Ruby leaned back in her seat.

“Want to tell me what your problem was earlier?” the dark haired girl loosened her belt under the chest plate.

“Are you kidding me?” Weiss shot her a look of such malice.

“No.” She said after a few minutes of consideration. She made a conscious effort not to hold eye contact. Her uncle always said it just angers already furious creatures more. And Weiss was a very furious creature right next to her.

“Don’t you dare tell me you danced on my nerves all day without even meaning to.” The heiress chewed on her grapes, like she was working out all her frustrations on the poor fruit.

“Your culture is really confusing, Weiss. I need some time to understand the habits.” Ruby turned cautiously to the other woman “What did you expect from me?”

“Excuse me?” Weiss nearly spat out her half-chewed fruit.

“I excuse you.” Ruby said, but quickly realized it was a mistake.

”I’m not asking for a fight. I want you to tell me what you want. I don’t know your customs yet.”For her credit, Ruby held Weiss’ blazing gaze now. She had the opportunity to watch as the heiress sunk into deep thought and a few minutes later realization dawned on her.

Ruby discovered that the frowny face meant that Weiss was deep in thinking. She thought the small wrinkle between Weiss’ eyebrows and the twinkle in her cold blue eyes as she found the answer was kind of cute.

Her surprised face quickly turned into a scowl.

“You are not from Atlas, right?” Weiss asked curious.

“Close enough! I’m not even from the continent!” Ruby cheered and slightly turned in her seat to face Weiss. “Ask and I’ll answer your questions.”

Weiss took a minute to decide which one should be her first, but before she could ask away, Ruby raised her hand in a gesture unfamiliar to Weiss.

“But only if you answer my questions too.”

“Deal.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have fun reading!

**Swords, Magic and Monsters  
**

Chapter 2

“That makes nothing sense!” Ruby exclaimed angrily.

The two of them spent the better part of the afternoon sitting in the flower garden, telling about their own customs. Mostly Ruby talking in length, while Weiss kept herself to short and straightforward answers.

The huntress roared up at regular intervals, mostly on things that were so natural to the heiress, but apparently seemed to enrage the dark haired girl. Weiss made sure to enjoy the show she got gratis with her mid afternoon fruit snack.

“Why would someone do that?” Ruby seemed to hold against her confusion really bad. “This place is really all backwards….From all the things you told me so far, this is the biggest bollocks of all.”

Weiss couldn’t contain her giggles any longer, needless to say, it only served to confuse Ruby even more.

“That’s it! I knew you were just pulling my hair!” Ruby laughed along with Weiss.

“No.” Weiss started with a dead serious expression “I wasn’t. You cannot call me by my name in public.”

At that, Ruby seemed to deflate. Now that Weiss knew the reason behind her guard’s unusual behavior she started to enjoy how needlessly expressive the other girl was. Of course, they only grazed the surface of the most of each others’ manners and customs. But she learned enough to have the outline of what to think of when Ruby opens her mouth to speak.

After Weiss got to ask all her questions and got satisfying answers for all, it was her turn to give explanation. Or more like, give out the pointers and rules of public manners used among the noble folk of Atlas.

It was tiring to explain everything twice, but Weiss had to learn with great amazement that Ruby was a rather entertaining conversation partner. She was quick on her mental feet most times and surprisingly witty. Maybe a little simple minded about a lot of topics, but Weiss suspected it wasn’t ignorance, just a way to find some sense in it all.

Ruby often made good hearted jabs or tried to come up with something to lure a laugh out of Weiss, only to fail miserably. Weiss caught silver eyes glued to her more often than not. She knew that Ruby’s intent was purely to learn and copy how to talk and behave properly, without causing a disaster. If she had to be honest, she found it a little flustering. Just like now.

“Don’t look at me like that. It is rude to do so.”

“Then what am I supposed to call you, if I can’t say your name?” The guardswoman pouted.

“You can call me ‘Your grace’ or ‘Your majesty’” Weiss selected the next piece of grape she would eat. “Also, I have a title.”

“What. Is it princess?” Ruby butted in, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“It’s heiress, actually.” Weiss deadpanned. At that Ruby snickered.

“Close enough, ey?” Weiss chose not to answer to that. After a few minutes of silence Ruby asked. “Is that all?”

“Yes it is. Next time you get to a situation and you don’t know what to know, just copy what Penny does.” Weiss turned to look at the other, waiting for an answer.

But Ruby did not answer, but ate, mumbled something and nodded viciously. She made a quick motion to finish her food when she realized Weiss’ staring. She sat up straight in her seat and started to recite everything that the heiress told her so far.

In about 10 minutes, Ruby managed to list most of the social rules that were her concern as a bodyguard. As luck would have it they were mostly easy rules, but they were many. After listing the last one too, Ruby made a show of puffing up her chest and looking full of herself.

Weiss rolled her eyes and Ruby flashed a toothy grin as she fixed her posture into one more comfortable. They sat in silence for a good while. Both of them were focusing on their remaining food.

Weiss had to admit, her father should soon regret employing Ruby if she kept on eating like that. When the huntress arrived with a portion of food enough for at least a smaller group of people, Weiss was a little concerned to say at least. As time went on and she saw the girl practically inhale all the goods from the kitchen and then eat mostly everything that Weiss couldn’t and still be able to have the various fruits as snack… Weiss’ concern quickly grew into shock.

Other than that, it was entertaining to watch Ruby pick her way through her meal. The dark haired woman gobbled down anything that was vaguely familiar to her, such as some food made of meat or a few items of baked goods. She mumbled something about ‘Unusual grasses’, whatever that meant, or straight up muttered under her nose something illegible while she ate. But as the familiar pieces of food slowly ran out, Ruby slowed down at consuming them.

She carefully picked each and every piece that she deemed as her next bite. She usually inspected it thoroughly. She even squinted at it like she had the ability to reveal all secrets of the fruit galette. After a careful scent sampling, and only after sniffing the food, she ate it.

Weiss seriously had to suppress a laugh every time Ruby went through that routine. After a few quiet snorts of laughter slipped out, Ruby even added the last and most important step. No matter what, she had to look at Weiss with a stern expression at the end of the inspection. Of course she didn’t want Weiss to stop snickering, but the moment she showed faux signs of annoyance, Weiss giggled harder.

Who would have known Weiss was such a rebel.

The dark haired woman smiled as she set her eyes upon her last victim. The poor thing was kept for last, because of all the food, it was the one that troubled Ruby the most. No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out what the damned thing was.

It was mostly round and had weird, bumpy, waxy skin. Which was perplexing on its own. But the color! It was a kind of yellow? To be honest, she didn’t really understand what she saw. Ruby thought there could be only a few things of this color. As her knowledge served her, none of those things were edible.

She tried to squish it gently. To her amazement, it gave way, but only in a manner that suggested that the covering on this thing was rather thick. She twirled it around in one hand. A surprised yelp left her mouth when she found something like a navel on it. Was this some sort of weird animal that the atlesian nobles ate?

She looked at Weiss. Weiss looked at her with an expression that was hard to read. Maybe she could have read it if she had more experience around the blue-bloods. For now, it mostly looked like curiosity and like she was waiting for something?

Clueless, Ruby turned back to the ball of waxy mystery in her hand. There was only one last thing to do. She brought the thing close to her face and smelled it. She gave it her all and sniffed it as thoroughly as she could. With that, she could pick up a very faint, but fresh and aromatic scent. Ruby hummed to herself as she turned the thing until the navel faced her. In a split second, she made her decision, dived in, and bit into the waxy skin. But….

How she regretted it. This foul thing tasted awful. It was thick and oily, the taste alone made her body react in the wildest of ways. Her face pulled into a grimace, the urge to gag shook her body and worst of all, she stated to salivate like an overworked horse. The repulsing thick spit made it hard to chew. Then that aromatic oily scent got into her nose and made everything worse.

“What is this foul shite?!” she growled as shudders of disgust made her rhythmically contort, her body clearly getting ready to barf, but it would be a cold day in hell before she let it happen. As a matter of fact, she took a second bite and chewed slowly and meticulously on the starchy vegetable or fruit or whatever the thing was. “It is awful…”

Ruby groaned the words and made a sound that was most similar to a ‘huarkgh’ and started to swear under her nose as she continued to eat with short snorts to help the scent get out of her nose. All the while she was chewing vigorously on the food. She felt something crunch under her teeth and made the mental note to look out for bones the next time she has to eat a thing like this.

Weiss nearly howled. The sight before her was just something unbelievable. She had to admit if she heard someone gossip similar things to her, she would have laughed it off with a wave of a hand. But to actually see a person eating an orange out of sheer willpower and dare say, desperation, was a sight to behold.

Next to her, Ruby wasn’t faring so well. The poor girl doubled over, resting the elbow of her injured arm on her knee. Her legs were wide apart in case she accidentally coughed up some of her food, but she seemed stubborn to keep it all down. She was starting to break a sweat and she sniffed furiously. As she glanced up at Weiss, the heiress took pity on her.

“Give it to me.” Weiss said and stretched a hand out to Ruby.

The dark haired girl vigorously shook her head, too afraid to speak now.

“Give it.” Weiss stated sternly, she decided to put her foot down and she will not let up. Upon realizing this, Ruby handed the thing over with a clear defeat in her posture.

“Thank you.” The heiress said just to spite the other girl.

Who was fighting the futile battle of getting and keeping the bite of orange down. She watched with rapt interest as Weiss peeled the remaining half nicely, and then broke off a slice.

“You are not supposed to eat the skin and look out for the seeds.” Weiss said as she handed the flesh of the fruit back to the huntress. She added with a suppressed giggle. “But nice work starting on the orange. You made it easier to peel.”

Ruby took a half turn in her seat, so she would face the other and took the offered fruit with both hands. Weiss looked on with surprise. As she looked at Ruby’s face, the huntress smiled while giving her a subtle nod.

“You could have told me sooner.” Ruby fumed as she got comfortable. She mimicked Weiss’ move and broke off a slice too. Then she watched as Weiss picked out a few seeds from the fruit and then ate the orange.

Upon learning this thing didn’t cause nausea when consumed peeled, Ruby was brave enough to eat it. It was way better with the skin off. Even more so, it was quite tasty and refreshing.

“Want some more?”

“No. Thank you.” Weiss politely declined.

“Why are you thanking me?” Ruby asked as she propped another piece of orange into her mouth.

“Because you asked.” The heiress half asked, half said it.

“Your people are really weird.” The huntress teased, all the while grinning into the fruit to make sure Weiss doesn’t see her smile.

“You!” Weiss whirled around, but when she saw Ruby’s smile, she realized it wasn’t the insult she first thought it to be. She laughed. ”Shut up!”

“Yes, mam.”

***

It was close to sundown when they arrived at the door of Weiss’ room. Ruby jogged forward to open the door to the heiress and made sure the room was safe to enter. For that, the white-blonde girl walked into her room without an incident.

But the two had to stop and stare at each other for a minute.

“Is something wrong?” Weiss asked, standing on one side of the door. While Ruby looked clueless on the other side.

“Where do I come in?”

“Through the door, Ruby.” The heiress stared in disbelief as she stated the obvious.

“No, I mean, where.” Ruby struggled for a bit then finally figured it out. “Do I go through the same door you do?”

Well, that was actually a righteous question. It made much sense for Ruby to use the service doors, but since she got rid of those, except the one leading into the attached room, they had no other option but to use this one. But it didn’t mean she couldn’t tease Ruby about it a bit.

“My dear knight, pray tell. Which door did we use to leave this morning?”

“Uh, this one. But I thought we did, because we were in a hurry.” Ruby looked confused. “Besides all the carved doors look the same.”

“Just come in, already.” Weiss frowned, but only to hide the smile pulling at the corner of her lips.

Ruby walked in groggily. She searched the room for a good place to sit. A split second later, she found the perfect place to rest her butt. She crossed the place with long strides and a slouch in her posture, just to show Weiss she was hurt.

“Just to be real, I saw the smile.” She turned on her heels to sit down. She made sure to lower herself as slow as possible. Her butt may be chaffed and hurt, but standing around all day made the soles of her feet hurt more. She had to decide between two bad to pick the lesser one.

On the far end, Weiss was getting ready for bed. She decided to do the quick routine, since she didn’t really need the relaxing bath with salts to calm down this time. Up until a sudden, but very, very loud yelp shook the room.

She rushed out from behind the divider screen, barely remembering her decency. Just to see Ruby stuck on one of the cushioned stools.

“What is wrong with this trap chair…” the dark haired woman grumbled as she tried to break free from the cushiest cushions she had laid hind quarters on.

“Too used to sit on tree stumps?” Weiss barely contained her laughter.

“Very funny.” The huntress struggled her way out of the trap of the stool and decided to stand guard instead. That way no evil chair can steal her butt.

The rest of Weiss’ bedtime routine was peaceful. She made sure to extensively tend to her wound. It would leave a mark for sure, but she wanted to make sure it leaves only a faint one. A good hour passed until Weiss stepped out from behind the decorated divider screen. Just to find Ruby built a fire while she was getting ready for bed.

She heard Ruby pottering around, but she thought the girl was just getting restless. After all Ruby seemed to be in motion all day. Weiss could hardly believe this girl had a near death experience only a few days prior. Said girl turned around with a grin shining brighter than any masterfully built fire. Ruby then walked up to the luscious bed.

Weiss felt a mild panic, but to her relief, Ruby didn’t stop at the bed. She placed the small bag of goods on the bedside table, took out some food with some rustling. Weiss couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw a lonely cinnamon bun sitting on her bedside table.

“You ate nothing, so you will eat when you wake up.” She explained. Weiss was a little confused. The two of them had a meal together, why would Ruby say such things…

She wasn’t sure how to react to such accusations, but the bundle reminded her to give Ruby the pouch of salts. She put it together especially for Ruby, a nice cocktail to help her get back on her feet and ensure a speedy recovery. Not that the huntress needed any aid, but Weiss didn’t want it to go to waste.

Weiss returned with the sack of salts in a few minutes and handed it to Ruby. The girl took the medicine in the same manner she did with the fruit. Facing Weiss fully, reaching with both hands. Or at least as much as her shoulder let her.

Weiss gave instructions to Ruby on what to do with her injured shoulder and how to use the salts to ensure its fast recovery. The most important of it all was to take hot baths each night, preferably with a generous handful of the salts dissolved into the water. The baths for servants were open at all hours, so Ruby really had no excuse to skip on that.

“Give my greetings to Penny.” Weiss called after Ruby as the huntress was about to leave the room, with salt-sack in tow.

“I sure hope Penny is doing better.” with that, she stepped into the attached room. She did not bid good night, which Weiss found a little odd. But she made sure to remember asking about it in the morning.

For a brief moment, she felt bad letting Ruby march in on Penny’s personal space, but the two seemed to forget the concept of it if what she saw in the morning was any pointer. Besides, Penny seemed to like this rowdy girl pretty much so. What bad could possibly happen?

***

As Ruby stepped into the small attached room, a thick wall of mist punched her right in the face. She had to strain her eyes to pick out the details of the room. But one thing was for sure.

There was an enormous tub, full of steaming water and the whole place smelled like flowers Ruby couldn’t quite place, but she had a faint memory of collecting similar scents during her travels around the atleasian countryside.

This was amazing! She was so bummed to think she had to walk another round in those tight and uncomfortable pants. But the bath came to her. Damn her if she will let such an opportunity go to waste.

She wasted no time getting out of her armor and clothes. Which deemed to be quite tricky, since her shoulder still didn’t allow her full range of motion, but she managed to wriggle and struggle her way out of her uniform.

She got to the tub with her salt-sack in one arm, the other already on the side of the tub, one leg raised over the edge. She was ready to crawl in. But she had to stop in her tracks.

From the tub, a pair of faintly glowing green eyes stared at her.

“Uh…. Mind if I join?”


End file.
